Before
any attempt is made to control an insect or other organism, it should first be
established that it is a pest and that it would be profitable to attempt
control.
In
this article, you will be acquainted with the fundamentals of crop pests and
the general methods for their management and control. This post, you should be
able to define and describe crop pests and discuss the importance of Crop pest.
Definitions of crop pest
Pests
are usually defined in terms of the degree and importance of crop damage or
loss. Most often, the definition of a pest depends on individuals and the
prevailing conditions.
Examples
of the many definitions of a pest include the following:
i)
A pest is any animal or plant which harms or causes damage to man, his animals,
crops or possessions, or even just causes him annoyance.
ii)
A pest is any organism detrimental to man, whether it is an insect, disease
organism, weed, rodent, or other.
iii)
A pest is any form of plan or animal or pathological agent injurious or
potentially injurious to plant or plant products, livestock or man.
iv)
An organism is a pest when the level of damage it causes is sufficient to
warrant control measures.
Importance of Crop pest
Crop
productivity in most of Africa is generally low. This is due to losses from
pests and diseases. Therefore, the reduction of losses due to pests and
diseases is an important element in increasing the efficiency of crop
production. These losses occur from planting of the seeds through field phases
of production to storage and processing.
Also read: Definitions and Importance crop pests
General methods for the prevention and control of crop pests
1. Prevention: The
best way of controlling pests is to prevent their attack. To prevent new insect
pests from spreading, all animals which harbour the pests must be properly
treated.
2. Chemical methods: These
involve the use of chemicals to kill the pest. This method is the most effective
of all the methods. The chemicals are generally called pesticides and include
insecticides (for the control of insect pests), rodenticides (control of
rodents), herbicides (control of weds). They may be applied inform of powder or
dust, smoke of spray or may even be used as stomach or contact poison. Examples
of pesticides are Gammalin 20, Alfrex – T, Aldrin, Ventox 25, Phostoxin,
Parathion, dual, Pimextra etc.
3. Physical: This
involves use of scare crows, hand picking, use of trap, fencing and burning of
debris.
4. Cultural method: This
is the use of good cultural practices to enable crops escape the attack of
pests. They are ploughing, proper tillage and disposal of refuse, regular
weeding, planting of resistant varieties of crops, early planting and
harvesting and practice of crop rotation.
5) Biological method: This
involves the use of natural predators and parasites of the pests. Example is
the use of snakes and frogs on insects, use of African marigaid for the control
of nematodes, use of cats to control rodents in stores and use of tiny wasp to
control bugs on cassava.
Conclusion on the General methods for the prevention and control of crop pests
Pest
is an all-encompassing word that includes insects, fungi, bacteria, viruses,
phytoplasmas, nematodes, mollusc, vertabrates, weeds and parasitic flowering
plant (striga). All organisms causing damages to crops can be regarded as
potential pests, but it is usual to use the term strictly for organisms causing
significant damage in quantity and or quality of crops and plant produce.
In
this post, we learnt about the different types of crop pests. We learnt about
their definitions, categories, importance and conditions which promote their
activities. The damages caused by pests and control methods were also
discussed.
Also read: Photosynthesis and Its Importance
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